Today, we are doing St. Patrick's Day Inspired craft: a ☘️Shamrock from green pipe cleaners and threaded green and white beads. To celebrate St. Patrick's Day, people decorate their windows and doors with a shamrock, which is a plant with three leaves, resembling a clover. Shamrock is a symbol of a Saint Patrick's Day as well as of Ireland. Some people even pin shamrocks to their clothing to commemorate the holiday.
This craft is very easy to set up and it is fun: children loved threading while working little fingers and developing fine-motor skills. We are using this wooden transferring set which is hand-carved from native South Pacific hardwood.
You will need green pipe cleaners and green and white beads.
Although this craft is simple, it nevertheless requires precision and patience.
First, offer a child to make a knot at the end of a pipe cleaner so that the bead does not fall off once threaded. To make a ☘️Shamrock, your child will need to make three identical pipe-cleaner-hearts, representing the three leaves of the shamrock, and then connect the three "leaves" with a plain green pipe-cleaner, making a stem.
Adrian did a similar craft during Christmas holidays (read here 🎅🏻Christmas Inspired Candy Cane Pipe Cleaner DIY Craft), and back then, at 37 months, a three-color-pattern was fun and not too overwhelming. Now, at 40 months, he chose a more challenging pattern: (1) white bead + (3) green beads ~ totaling a 4-bead-pattern. Older children can choose yet an even more complicated pattern, while smaller children might enjoy a simpler one: alternating just two colors (for example green and white) or just threading all green beads.
This was a fun and engaging way to practice threading while strengthening the coordination of small muscles in the little hands and developing fine motor control. The activity also sustained Adrian's attention for a while, requiring his concentration, patience, and precision. Moreover, he had a chance to train his memory since he had to remember and follow his pattern after all. However, most importantly, it was fun!
For more on St. Patrick's hands-on fun, see here ☘️St. Patrick's Day Kids Activities.
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